SINGAPORE – A Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) teacher appeared in court on Friday (Jan 4) to face drug-related charges including methamphetamine consumption. Briton Christopher David Burge, 65, was first charged on Sept 22 last year. He is accused of attempting to possess five packets of a crystalline substance between Sept 14 and 19 last year. They were later found to contain at least 3.6g of methamphetamine. The humanities teacher is also accused of consuming the drug on Sept 20 last year. He was allegedly found with drug paraphernalia including glass apparatus…

SINGAPORE – When temperatures rise, lower-income households here use more water whereas higher-income households consume more electricity, a local study has found. The study tracked the water and electricity bills of about 130,000 households staying in apartments from September 2012 to December 2015. It found that with a 1 deg C increase in temperature, the average household living in a two-room apartment increases water use by 9 litres per day. At the time of the study, less than a fifth of two-room apartments had air-conditioning. In contrast, heat induces larger…

SINGAPORE – Spize’s owners had decided that they would end the business at the River Valley outlet soon after a fatal food poisoning incident last month (November). Mr Haresh Sabnani, co-founder of the restaurant that has four outlets across Singapore, told The Straits Times on Friday morning (Dec 7) that the company had decided to sell a part of their business. He spoke to ST before a press conference on Friday where the National Environment Agency (NEA) said it has terminated the operating licences of Spize restaurant in River Valley Roadwith immediate effect,…

On Singapore’s public housing, here are somethings to note: (1) Singapore’s HDB public housing is provided to Singaporeans at the expense of their retirement i.e. Singaporeans’ CPF funds are being depleted to fund the PAP government’s HDB. (2) Since HDB resale prices are falling and individuals’ CPF have been used to pay for high HDB resale flat prices when they bought it, people will not have enough to retire, and they will not be able to monetise enough from their flats to retire. (3) HDB flats have always been meant…

SINGAPORE – Under-performing students from disadvantaged families will be given more holistic support by the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) from next year. The non-profit self-help group for the Chinese community will expand its student programme to help develop motivation, resilience and discipline in learning among weaker students. This will be done through extra mentoring and supervision from former school leaders, tutors and trainers. The organisation will also help create a more conducive learning environment at home for the students by providing tables and lamps where needed, along with additional…

The top court dismissed a woman’s appeal against a High Court decision which found she had tricked her husband into signing a deed of trust that would have left him a pauper and their infant son a millionaire. The assets included a $25 million inheritance from his late mother who was murdered in an unrelated incident barely a week before he signed the deed. The man, identified in court papers as BOK, had signed the deed on March 26, 2014, while he was grieving over his mother who was killed…

SINGAPORE – Eight-year-old Euwan Lorena stared intently at the many shelves of Harry Potter merchandise in Changi Airport Terminal 3 on Friday (Nov 16), unable to decide what he wanted. Dressed in Gryffindor school robes from the popular book and movie series, the Primary 2 pupil finally decided on a stationery set with a Harry Potter-themed A4-sized notebook and pencils. “He really loves Harry Potter,” said the superfan’s mother, recruitment consultant Athlea Lorena, 43, noting that Euwan has watched all the Potter movies. “He had a Harry Potter-themed birthday party…

SINGAPORE – One of two masterminds of a scam involving false quotations and fictitious job requests obtained more than $4.2 million in the ruse that defrauded a company of more than $10 million. On Monday (Nov 12), renovation firm manager Tan Aik Gee, 54, from Ying Xin Services was sentenced to 11 years’ jail and a fine of $900,000 after pleading guilty to 25 charges of cheating construction services company United Engineers Limited (UEL) and five counts of taking his ill-gotten gains from Singapore to Indonesia. The court heard that 186…

SINGAPORE – Those hoping to have an online shopping spree on Black Friday and Singles’ Day should be careful not to get scammed, the authorities have warned. In a statement on Saturday morning (Nov 10), the police said that scammers look to cheat victims eager to take advantage of big discounts. Singles’ Day, falling on Nov 11 (also known as 11.11), is a 24-hour multibillion-dollar sales event that popular online retailers like Taobao, Zalora, and Amazon typically take part in. Black Friday, originally a US shopping promotion, is on Nov…

Singapore’s largest man-made reef structure being installed in the waters off Small Sister’s Island yesterday. This 10m-high structure will form a three-storey ”terraced house” upon which corals may take root and grow, and double as a new home for other forms of marine life, said Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin, who witnessed the structure’s installation. ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN Man-made reef in waters off Small Sister’s Island will boost marine conservation efforts In an effort to preserve Singapore’s marine biodiversity, the Republic’s largest man-made reef structure to date was installed…